US schools rethink their methods after the pandemic

Alarmed by low student grades amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools in the United States decided to take a tolerant attitude toward grades and assignment deadlines.

And now that the coronavirus crisis is fading away, some are determined to keep those policies or others like them, not because of the pandemic, but rather because of what the crisis revealed about the punishments suffered by students who do not have enough support in their schools. houses, must work or do not have good access to the internet.

During a class via Zoom, teacher Brandy Snyder, from Las Cruces High School, in the state of New Mexico, once observed a student sitting next to customers of the fast food restaurant where she worked.

The boy connected from there because he did not want to lose points by being absent. Under the new grading system, an absence does not carry a loss of points if the student demonstrates that he learned the lesson.

“I’m surprised there aren’t more teachers who opened their eyes” said Snyder, one of the few teachers at her school using the new grading system. “It’s amazing that they act like gatekeepers, that they think, ‘no, he should be in my class.’ They don’t know the circumstances” of the student, he pointed out.

For years there have been those who promote the concept of “fair grades”, that reflect the knowledge acquired by the student and not their tasks, their behavior or extracurricular activities. Many schools are working to remove bias from their grading systems as a result of the lessons of the pandemic and awareness of racial injustice.

From California to Virginia, schools have been experimenting with setting aside the zero-to-100 grading system and other strategies to avoid deducting points from those who don’t complete assignments. Others allow students to retake an exam and turn in their papers after the deadline.

The way in which extracurricular tasks are rewarded, which favor students with more advantageous situations at home, is also being reconsidered. Some teachers resist this proposal, arguing that it lowers expectations for students.

A San Diego teachers’ union filed a lawsuit last year when its school district announced it would adopt the fair ratings system. Economics and government professor Julia Knoff said that she and her colleagues feared less autonomy and more work, for example, being forced to prepare new exams for those who scored poorly.

An agreement was eventually reached in which the district grants teachers discretion in areas such as assignment submissions and the number of times students can retake them.

Knoff, who is a shop steward, believes the new approach will do little to prepare students for real-world responsibilities. “I have a job, a boss and I have to meet certain requirements”, he indicated.

One of her students, Helene Trujillo, commented that the flexibility to deliver tasks makes her feel less “suffocated”. She says that sometimes she finishes working at a Mexican restaurant after 10:00 at night and is doing homework until 2:00 in the morning. At 8:30 she must be at school.

“It would be easier to handle everything if they weren’t so strict with the deadlines to deliver jobs,” Trujillo said. “And you wouldn’t have to worry so much about grades.”

Online teaching has made many teachers immerse in the circumstances their students have at home and fueled interest in finding ways not to punish students who don’t have ideal conditions, according to Joe Feldman, a former teacher and school administrator. Oakland (California), which has written a book on the subject and offers workshops for teachers from the consulting firm Crescendo Education.

“I think we learned quite a bit about tolerance for students. You don’t want the grades to reflect things out of your control”, he stated.

Brad Beadell, a life sciences teacher at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, California, worries that students may try to take advantage of the new policies.

“The problem I see is that the kids who want to retake a test are kids who got high marks. They want a perfect score.”he pointed.

Shantha Smith, a Black teacher from Elicot City, Maryland, says she has been teaching for 20 years and sees the biases of many teachers.

White teachers, he said, view African-American or brown students who joke around or talk loudly as lazy and don’t fit the pattern of behavior in their heads. That perception is reflected in their grades, she said.

“Hopefully we are starting a journey in which more empathy and compassion is shown towards what happens in people’s livesSmith stated.

Janna Stone, an English teacher at Wilcox High, wants to see if the new proposals improve students’ self-esteem. “Many of them consider themselves low grade students” and do not strive to improve them, he stressed.